From a Certain Point of View
by Raynebow of the Rising Sun
Summary: Canon TLJ from Kylo/Ben's POV.
1. Chapter 1

The man who called himself Kylo Ren stood before a wall of glass in an otherwise empty room aboard the Supremacy. His unfocused gaze failed to take in the stars or the sight of the sublight chase taking place just beyond his ship's lethality range as his mind dissected every moment of the day he'd just lived through.

Things had started out pretty normal. He'd woken up with a scream trapped in his throat - from a nightmare he'd been having. Then he'd reported to Snoke for his daily orders. As usual the Supreme Leader had taken the opportunity to berate him for his shortcomings.

Unlike usual, though, he had momentarily lost his temper and attempted to retaliate against Snoke's harsh words. That had been a big mistake which had cost him the majority of what was left of his tattered pride after having been beaten and left for dead by a girl half his size who had iindeed/i never held a lightsaber before.

He had left that meeting knowing, deep down, that his association with Snoke was nearing it's end but it wasn't until he'd had his mother's life in his hands that the real cost of being Snoke's apprentice had begun to really make itself glaringly obvious to him. Between that realization and the shock of feeling his mother's sad acceptance of her impending doom that was tinged with compassion for his pain and an unwavering feeling of peace that bordered on faith, he had been unable to pull the trigger and kill the woman who had given him life - or to stop his wingman's missile before it could complete the task that he could not.

Shortly after returning to the Supremacy, from failing to be the one to kill his mother, his day had taken a dramatic turn.

Sitting alone in the ship's medbay, having his facial laceration stitched for the third time in as many days, he had found himself thinking about his uncle, Luke Skywalker.  
The very same Luke Skywalker that the whole galaxy thought of as a hero. The same Luke Skywalker that had tried to strike him down in his sleep when he'd been barely more than a boy. The same Luke Skywalker that had driven young Ben Solo straight into Snoke's clutches with his murderous intent.

He had known that if the girl got to Luke, before the First Order did, he would lose his best chance to kill the Jedi before his uncle could ignite the tiny spark of Leia's Resistance into a full blown civil war. But what were the chances of her having failed to find him yet? She had the map in her head and the droid to boot.

The sting of the sutures being placed along the line of the rapidly healing cut on his cheek was minor to say the least, but he waved the droid away just the same as his senses started to tingle and the Force around him began to shimmer with a familiar presence that he hadn't expected to feel again any time soon.

His searching eyes landed on her face the moment she appeared and all thoughts of everything else had fled from his mind.

A long moment passed as they'd stared at each other in equal shock... though hers was laden with fear and his with amazement.

He'd been far too stunned to react until she grabbed her blaster and sent the phantom of a fiery red energy bolt sailing harmlessly through his middle. Of course, he hadn't known at the time that the bolt was a phantom or that she wasn't really there... but that became evident very quickly.

He'd been caught so off guard by that first encounter that he hadn't yet begun to recover from it when she'd come to him again, a little while later, interrupting him from his obsessive overthinking about their strange connection.

Just as before she'd been spitting hatred his way and unwilling to join him in any attempt to understand what was happening to them.

By the third time she had come to him he'd had time to resign himself to the fact that she was never going to look at him and see anything but a monster who had kidnapped her and killed his own parents.

He focused on his reflection in the glass viewing panel aboard the Supremacy and couldn't stop himself from questioning why she had been so flustered about him not having a tunic on during that third Force enabled visit. If he didn't know better he'd think she found him hard to look at because she suddenly found herself iwanting/i to look at him. He tried to dismiss that thought as ridiculous. Compared to before he had acquired his brand new collection of scars he currently looked like hell - like he'd lost a fight with an angry lothcat.

But she had been flustered.

She'd been so flustered that she'd forgotten to be enraged at the sight of him. So flustered that her eyes had repeatedly darted to and skittered away from his chest.

Curiously her quick glances had been accompanied by a jumble of emotions that included a shivering nervousness that was pretty much exactly like the baffling thrill of something akin to excitement that he had to tamp down every time he saw her.

He closed his eyes a moment as he thought back over the next, and so far last, time she had come to him.

He couldn't define what was happening between them or the strange feelings they seemed to arouse in each other, but he was grateful to whatever was responsible for Rey's attitude change toward him.

It hadn't even been an hour between the third and fourth times their minds had connected but it was immediately clear to him that much had changed in that short span of time.

Unlike before she hadn't started off by spitting fire his way or accusing him of anything. She'd been utterly devastated... and soaking wet.

The sight of her, the desolation, misery, and the unfathomable abyss of emptiness emanating from her - instantly sent his entire being into high alert. Without even giving it a thought he instinctively asked her what was wrong.

He could still hardly believe that she had told him exactly what she'd been through. It was almost as if... as if ishe/i understood ihim/i enough to know that ihe/i would understand what ishe/i was going through.

He clenched his fist lightly behind his back as his fingertips began to tingle with the memory of the feeling of hers. He hadn't meant to get so entangled in her tale that he lost track of everything but the sound of her voice, the feel of her emotions, the sight of her heartbreakingly expressive face as it grew even lovelier with each passing moment. But he did get that entangled. Her emotions and his had become so thoroughly enmeshed that he honestly wasn't sure they weren't just sharing a single set of feelings. Before he had known what was happening, a feeling like a warm embrace had taken up residence in the Force between them.

When she finished her story he hadn't even hesitated to reassure her. How could he not tell her that he was right here with her? That he understood and admired her? How could he possibly call himself a man if he hesitated to tell her that she wasn't alone?

He couldn't and he didn't.

And she didn't hesitate to tell him the same when she recognized the truth in his empathetic words of compassion to her.

Even now, hours later, he could hardly believe she had reached out her hand - and with it her compassion and an offer of help - to him.

Gazing sightlessly into space he pondered the reason behind his need to remove his glove. He couldn't explain it, even to himself, but he had urgently needed to feel her skin touching his.

As soon as they'd touched, his fingertips had begun to burn as if he was touching an unshielded hot wire and memories - hundreds of them - poured into his brain at a dizzying pace.

Lost in the sensation and the knowledge that she was experiencing the same thing, he hadn't even realized he could see her surroundings - as if he were no longer aboard the Supremacy but was instead sitting in a firelit stone hut - until his uncle had burst in on them and with a shouted denial had blown the hut apart.

He had been half crazed with worry over Rey when he'd first found himself back aboard his ship, but that sensation slowly diminished as he realized he could still feel her in the Force. Wherever she was, whatever Luke had chosen to do to Rey after she'd let go of his hand and returned him to his own quarters, he knew that she was alive and that allowed him to calm down enough to start to ponder the startling changes that had taken place in his life since he'd woken up this morning.

After all they'd been through, so far today, he desperately wanted to believe that she had somehow had a change of heart toward him. He wanted to believe that she had forgiven him for what he'd done to his father and to her.

And after what had passed between them before Luke's unwelcome intrusion, he fully expected to see her appear out of thin air again very soon.

What he never expected to see was his Father's old freighter drop out of hyperspace, just a few clicks in front of his eyes, jettison an escape pod and then disappear back into hyperspace.

He had no time to worry about that though as his senses filled to brimming with the proximity of her. He didn't need to be told what was happening. He could feel her every emotion as if they were his. She was nervous but determined as she grew closer to the ship under the watchful eyes of a pair of TIE escorts.

Tamping down his emotions as best he could he hurried to meet her as quickly as could be managed given the size of the ship he was on.

Mildly out of breath, he skidded to a stop just outside the hangar bay into which her pod was slowly being tractored. Taking a deep breath he steadied himself before striding into the hangar to receive his unexpected guest.

The Force was nearly snapping like static between them as the escape pod slid open to reveal Rey.

He had to bite down hard against his own teeth to keep from smiling as he took in the sight of her.

She'd apparently taken a shower and changed on her way here, but that wasn't what had made his heart leap into his throat. No. The fact that she had applied a modest touch of cosmetics was what had nearly caused him to lose his composure.

Why would she do that if not to make herself feel more appealing? And why would she want to be more appealing unless she was trying to capture his undivided attention?

Watching the hopeful nervousness drain from her face, and feeling it be replaced by disappointment in the Force between them, made it almost as tough to maintain his tenuous grasp on his emotions as the pretty pink stain she'd used on her lips.

"That's mine." He said mildly as she climbed from the coffin-like box that had brought her here.

Looking thoughtfully down at the lightsaber in her hand, Rey mused, "it's funny, then, that it came to me in the forest - and not to you."

Biting back another smile he failed terribly at trying to sound menacing when he reminded her of the nonexistence of negotiating strength in her current surroundings.

With a shrug she handed him the silvery weapon and allowed herself to be peacefully shackled at the wrist by a nearby stormtrooper.

He couldn't help but admire her moxy but now that she was cuffed his mind turned toward the next step they had to take. As much as he hated to do it, he lead her to the express elevator that would take them both to Supreme Leader Snoke's cavernous throne room.

Holding himself together by the skin of his teeth he tried to hide those of his feelings that would endanger them both - using the old trick of distracting himself - by reciting the Sith Code in his head as the elevator doors closed.

He didn't make it very far before Rey's voice shattered the silence and his concentration. "You don't have to do this." She said in a strong but flat tone that clued him into the fact that she, too, was trying to shield her emotions and thoughts. "I can feel the conflict within you, it's tearing you apart."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw her turn her face toward him but he valiantly fought on to maintain his blank expression and suppress his boiling emotions. He failed terribly at both when she said his name in a soft voice that indicated that she was through trying to hide the burgeoning hope that radiated out from her like a mirage from desert sands.

"Ben," she said, turning to face him fully. "When we touched hands I saw your future. Just the shape of it, but solid and clear."

A few light steps brought her to within inches of him, setting off alarm bells in the back of his mind even as his gaze swept down to double check that her binders were still in place.

"You will not bow before Snoke." She said vehemently as she approached him before her eyes left his for a moment to glance at his chest - as she came to a stop so close to him that he could smell the clean scent of soap wafting up from her skin. "You'll turn."

Involuntarily, he leaned towards her as she leaned closer to him to whisper, "I'll help you. I saw it."

Torn between the need to protect them both from his Master and his nearly overwhelming desire to snatch her into his arms and kiss her he latched on to her confession of having seen his future like a drowning man upon a life ring.

"I saw something, too." He said softly, battling down both the urge to kiss her and the desire to confess everything to her. "Because of what I saw, I know when the moment comes - you'll be the one to turn. You'll stand with me." Hoping to distract them both from the implications inherent in the crack in his voice on the word 'Stand' he plunged ahead without pausing. "Rey, I saw who your parents are."

Her expression clouded and he registered a small frisson of shock spike through the Force around her as she consciously tapped into his emotions and finally seemed to understand that the conflict currently inside him wasn't really about him. His eyes stayed glued to hers as she backed away from him slowly with a troubled expression on her face and a low hum of unease permeating the Force around her.

Before he could analyze or, as he usually tended to do, over-analyze her reaction to that tidbit of information, which he had failed to hide, the elevator doors slid open and his entire focus snapped to the task of keeping his feelings about this girl away from his Master's attention. Grabbing her firmly by the upper arm he hustled her out of the lift and toward the gold-robed humanoid who currently held both of their fates in his merciless hands.

Stopping halfway to the elevated throne he gave her a gentle, encouraging, somewhat rebellious, push forward and took a knee as he was trained to do.  



	2. Chapter 2

Kylo Ren watched from beneath the lashes of his obsequiously lowered eyes as Rey strode forward, halving the distance between herself and both Snoke and himself. His focus remained on Rey as the Supreme Leader filled the throne room with the sound of his own voice.

After a brief but grandiose speech of praise for his "Good and faithful apprentice" Snoke, too, turned his attention to Rey.

"Young Rey,"Snoke purred in a way that made Kylo's guts clench with fear. He knew that purr well enough to know that it was anything but friendly even if his Master's next move was to welcome Rey into his presence with both word and deed as he freed her wrists from the binders that restrained them.

"Come closer, child." Snoke said in a tone that would have sounded like an innocuous invitation to anyone but his apprentice.

Nearing a state of anxiety induced panic Ren distracted himself by feverishly working to keep tabs on both Snoke and Rey's mental states as well at that of the eight crimson clad guards that stood at attention in their assigned posts around the throne room's perimeter.

Rey stubbornly refused to budge an inch even as Ren felt a slight tremor in the Force that could only be a less-than-subtle attempt by Snoke to compel her to come to him.

Snoke's next statement may as well have been plucked from his apprentice's mind - it matched so well with what Kylo Ren was thinking. "So much strength." The Supreme Leader said with a hint of respect in his voice.

That suggestion of respect would probably have driven him nearly insane with jealousy just a day or two ago, but now it only made his blood curdle with fear for the girl standing defiantly between them.

"Darkness rises and light to meet it" Snoke said as he gestured with his hands. "I warned my young apprentice that as he grew stronger, his equal in the light would rise."

The mostly forgotten weapon in Ren's lax fingers flew from his grasp and straight into Snoke's just before the Supreme Leader chuckled, "Skywalker, I presumed."

Sobering instantly from his falsely self deprecating mirth Snoke added, "Wrongly," in a conversational tone as he set the lightsaber down next to himself on the arm of his throne.

A ripple of intense power surrounded Rey as Snoke ordered, "Closer, I said." And dragged her slowly toward himself even as she battled in vain against his pull.

Ren felt the moment Rey gave up trying to fight his Master's pull and was surprised to hear her voice ring out clearly and brimming with confidence as she spoke to the being who had easily overwhelmed her in their ridiculously short, Force-battle of wills. "You underestimate Skywalker! And Ben Solo! And me!" She said without a trace of doubt in her voice or in the Force surrounding her. "It will be your downfall!"

"Oh! Have you seen something?" Snoke whispered loudly in mock fear. "A weakness in my apprentice - is th-that why you came?"

Ren felt the insincerity of Snoke's false fear and was anything but surprised to hear his Master's arrogant laugh replace that faux tone a moment later.

"Young fool," Snoke taunted on a chortle before his voice turned deadly serious as he shattered both human's confidence with a single sentence. "It was I who bridged your minds." He boasted, dropping all pretense of civility or respect.

Ren's gaze shot upwards toward his master. He didn't want to believe it. It couldn't be true! The connection between them was too strong, too pure, to have been forged by anything but the Force itself! Wasn't it?

A painful, sickly feeling tore through his insides as the Supreme Leader continued his boast, convincing Ren and Rey both of the artificial nature of their connection. "I stoked Ren's conflicted soul. I knew he was not strong enough to hide it from you. And you were not wise enough to resist the bait."

Devastating pain coiled through Ren's chest as this latest betrayal settled into his mind.

iBait./i The word echoed in his mind. He'd been used as bait to lure Rey out of hiding... to bring her to Snoke like a shanty fish to a hook. iBait./i He thought bitterly. iAnd both of us fell for it - hook, line, and sinker./i

"And now," Snoke said, raising one shriveled hand to engulf the whole side of Rey's head. "You will give me Skywalker, then I will kill you with the cruelest stroke."

"No." She said firmly in spite of the waves of terror she was broadcasting strongly into the room.

"Yes." The Supreme Leader hissed as he flung Rey's entire body away from him while he used the Force to lift her high into the air and plundered her mind as painfully as he could manage without killing her outright. "Give me everything."

"No!" She repeated desperately.

Ren dragged his eyes away from her as he felt her resistance begin to give way under Snoke's relentless attack.

Her screams of agony shredded what was left of Ren's composure as he struggled against the overwhelming urge to intercede on her behalf.

He couldn't do that.

Not yet.

Not without forfeiting both their lives in a foolish attempt at spontaneous heroics - which, despite his ancestry, he didn't happen to have any personal experience with.

Rey's spine chilling screams were blessedly short lived as Snoke gathered the information he sought with incredible ease while his apprentice experienced the shortest existential crisis in the history of the universe.

It was a combination of the sound of her screams, the hopelessness of the situation, and the certainty in his belief - that in the next few moments, either He and Rey were going to die or Snoke and his guards were - that caused all conflict within him to cease as every iota of him became absolutely determined to walk out of this room with her by his side.

With his mind made up a feeling of tranquility unlike anything he had ever felt before swept through him - instantly freeing him from the fear, insecurity, and anxiety of a lifetime of neglect, betrayal and abuse. In an instant he went from being a fearful, traumatized and tortured soul - who never quite fit in anywhere or with anybody - to a man who knew exactly where he belonged as well as exactly what he wanted and who he wanted it with.

Scant seconds passed between him finding the path he knew he was destined to tread and the moment when Snoke released Rey from the punishing grip of his mind probe allowing her body to fall limply to the floor.

With another chortle of cruel laughter Snoke intoned, "Well, well! I did not expect Skywalker to be so wise!"

Ren's eyes, full of vengeance snapped up to glare at the twisted being who had finally, after years of abusing both Ren and his power over him, gone one step too far.

"We will give him and the Jedi Order the death he desires." Snoke said gleefully. "After the rebels are gone we will go to his planet and obliterate the entire island."

Rey leapt to her feet at this twisted promise and, reaching out, she pulled the lightsaber from Snoke's armrest.

A quick sizzle of power spiking out from the Supreme Leader was all the warning he received and all the warning he needed to know he should dodge the flying hilt as it sailed past him, under Snoke's control, before turning sharply around to slam into the back of Rey's head then travel back to it's resting place by Snoke's elbow.

"Such spunk." Snoke said dismissively before once again wrapping Rey in a fist of pure malicious power - this time to propel her toward his personal oculus, the device through which he liked to watch his TIE fleet's gunners test their skills. "Look here now." He ordered then peeled away the curtains covering the viewport behind the large magnifying lens. "The entire Resistance - on those transports - soon they will all be gone!" He crowed triumphantly. "For you, all is lost!"

Ren felt her intent before she even reached in his direction but did nothing to interfere with Rey's plan as she jerked his lightsaber from it's place on his belt. He could feel that Snoke intended to have him strike the killing blow against her so he simply watched his weapon - as it leapt into her hands and ignited - as if the spectacle of it all was merely a mild curiosity.

A massive spike of alarm flashed through his senses as all eight guards jumped into their fighting stance before Snoke halted them with a slight gesture of his hand. "Oh," he taunted. "Still that fiery spit of hope. You have the spirit of a true Jedi!"

With the foolishly high level of courage Ren had come to expect from her, Rey dashed toward Snoke with ihis/i lightsaber at the ready.

Ren swallowed down his disappointment as, at the last second, Snoke sent her sprawling with an almost casual wave of his hand. That disappointment didn't last long, though, as his extinguished weapon slid across the floor to come to a slowly revolving rest near his foot.

As he watched his saber's languid spin taper off into stillness, Ren was struck with his first solid idea for how to put an end to Snoke's inhumane treatment of the girl he intended to spend the rest of his life with. His eyes, burning with hatred, flicked back to Snoke's face.

"And because of that," Snoke purred. "You must die."

Ren's glare never wavered as Snoke jerked Rey to her knees with her arms pinned helplessly to her sides and spun her to face him, as he began to pontificate using words that might have been more effective if his master had chosen to use them on any day but this one.

"Son of darkness," Snoke's gratingly officious voice boomed out. "Heir apparent to Lord Vader - where there was conflict, I now sense resolve. Where there was weakness, strength."

Of their own volition his eyes flicked to Rey's and held there.

"Complete your training and fulfill your destiny." The Supreme Leader ordered in a steely growl.

Kylo Ren knew exactly what his Master was ordering him to do so he dutifully lifted his saber from the ground and stood up, never breaking the eye contact he had with Rey.

He wanted to reassure her, to tell her that even though it might seem that way, she was not alone. He wanted to tell her that he had no intention of ever letting anyone harm her... that she was right to trust him, to believe in him - but he couldn't. All he could do was look her in they eye and pray he'd get the chance, later, to tell her all that and so much more as he gave her the only words he could under the circumstances, though he said those words in a raised tone intended to make Snoke think he might be talking to him in spite of his failure to look at his master. "I know what I have to do."

"Ben…" She gasped and he felt a spark of hope skitter through her.

Snoke's wheezing laughter and amused voice filled the room. "You think you can turn him? Pathetic child." He said dismissively before switching his tone to one of pure, unadulterated, arrogance. "I cannot be betrayed. I cannot be beaten. I see his mind. I see his every intent! Yes! I see him turning the lightsaber to strike true."

Ren knew what Snoke was seeing. He was projecting the images directly into the Supreme Leader's mind even as he matched his motions to Snoke's words for the benefit of the guards who watched from the edges of the room. He could feel their eyes on him as he raised his weapon, turning it in his right hand and bringing it to bear - pointed directly at Rey's throat. With their attention riveted on his lightsaber he slowly but steadfastly turned his grandfather's sword with the Force and the aide of his other hand.

None of them knew it, none of them saw it. Even Snoke, with his ceaseless nattering on about his own superiority, failed to sense what his eyes could have detected had he not been so full of himself as to think he was invincible enough, his hold over Kylo Ren unbreakable enough, to close his eyes in order to savor what he considered an almost spiritual feast of torment and death.

"And now, foolish child," Snoke said as the silver handle came into alignment with spine. "He ignites it, and kills his true enemy!"

Snoke had barely finished speaking when Ren clamped his left fist shut, igniting the lightsaber that'd once belonged to both his grandfather and his uncle.

Rey dropped to the floor as Snoke's hold on her released the instant Ren closed his hand.

Ren's eyes landed on the bright blue blade that was currently impaling his Former Master. It may have been the Skywalker family's one surviving heirloom iat one time/i but now - like himself, it belonged to the woman sprawled on the floor at his feet. With a flick of his fingers he dragged the blue blade through Snoke's body, bisecting the former Supreme Leader, and sent the still activated weapon gliding smoothly into her hand.

He tore his eyes away from the sight of Snoke's ruined body as Rey gained her feet, with iher/i weapon at the ready.

Just this morning he would have been worried to have her this close to him with an ignited lightsaber in her hand… but not now. Now he was only worried that one of Snoke's guards might get in a lucky strike that would end this scintillating new partnership before it even got started.

As she pulled herself up to her full height he couldn't help noticing that Rey was looking at him like she genuinely believed him to be the most amazing thing she'd ever seen. A jolt of something undefinable yet incredibly powerful passed between them in the moment they were able to steal a lingering glance into each other's eyes. It was a heady sensation, but not one he had time to savor.

In unison they both turned to meet the oncoming rush of all eight of the the First Order's most elite fighting men.


	3. Chapter 3

Ren blocked the first two blows and ducked beneath a third as the guards on his side of the room moved in to attack. Being a snubfighter pilot he immediately recognized their strategy. They were using a carefully choreographed pattern attack meant to confuse and overwhelm him with their constantly shifting weapons and quick, fleet-footed movements. The pattern they used resembled the chaotic way a swarm of insects mobbed an exterior light left burning at night and would have almost certainly been completely effective against anyone that didn't have the Force to alert them to where the real danger was at every moment.

Relying on his experience with that very technique in TIE vs X-wing dogfight simulations he knew to watch out for flank attacks. When one came he stepped back and shoved the attacker hard in the direction he'd already been heading while simultaneously using his blade to deflect another guard's attack.

The first guard attacked again, this time coming in fast from about ten o'clock, with a low widely arcing swing toward his legs. The currently unaffiliated Jedi stabbed his saber several inches into the floor to brace it against the blow.

Without delay, two more guards attacked simultaneously with overhead blows, each from a different direction. Sensing his need for assistance Rey whipped around to stab one through the heart as he blocked the other. When she turned back around three guards rushed at her with their weapons held high.

Just as she had known of his need for assistance he suddenly became aware of hers - right before he felt her hand clamp into both the cloth and flesh at the junction of his right hip and thigh joint. No sooner had she grabbed him but his left hand snaked back and grabbed her clothing in the vicinity of her right hip. With a powerful lunge backwards Ren bashed his blade against yet another opponent's weapon as he propelled Rey forward, lending a portion of his superior physical strength to the combination sword block and mule kick she used to defend against the triple attack she'd needed assistance with.

It was odd, he almost felt like the pair of them were sharing a single mind, a single set of eyes, and a single sense of the Force. The moment either realized they needed assistance the other just automatically knew when, where and how to assist.

The remaining guards seemed to notice this strange phenomenon too as they each pulled back just enough to force the two Jedi to put a little distance between themselves.

As the fight began to wear on Ren found himself drifting farther and farther away from Rey. He didn't like that, but he couldn't do anything about it and he didn't like that either.

His senses told him that seven guards remained, his eyes told him that only three of them were attacking him.

Worry filled his mind. Worry for the girl who had somehow, in just a matter of days, become the center of his universe. He wasn't worried about her because he thought she was lacking in skill or courage - he was intimately acquainted with both her skills and her often foolhardy courageousness - he worried because he cared so much he feared what his life would be like if she weren't in it. He worried that without her he would be nothing more than the power he wields - as he had always been before she came along and made him feel like more than that. Like his power was merely a feature of his and not the totality of him. For the first time in his life he felt like a person... a human… a man - and that was entirely because of her.

He threw an elbow at one Preatorian and side kicked another in the leg as he threw the dazed guard he'd just elbowed at yet another guard. They recouped and rebounded on him all at once even as he felt one of Rey's targets die.

With the odds closer to being in her favor he began to worry less about her and more about the men who were trying to kill him. With a rather wide gulf of space between them now, the only way he was going to be able to assist her was if he killed his trio of guards before she needed him.

With that in mind he launched himself fully into the fight, quickly impaling one of his opponents even as he felt another of hers die.

In a flash one of the guards attacking Rey sprinted over to engage Kylo, leaving Rey with just one to contend with while Ren, once again, had three.

As his new trio of opponents surrounded him he felt a shiver in the Force that pulled his attention across the room to where Rey fought a lone guard who wielded dual vibrodaggers with skill and grace. Just as his eyes focused on her the Preatorian stabbed at her, but nimble little Rey managed to deflect his blow enough that it did only superficial skin damage to her sword arm.

With the danger past Ren remembered where he was and what he was supposed to be paying attention to.

A quick glance around to confirm in his own mind where each man stood was all Ren gave himself before leaping into action.

In seconds, with a few dervish-like spins and plenty of momentum added to his bulk, he had impaled one man, ripped the pole axe out of another's hand and used it, along with his saber to kill the third.

Unfortunately the man who's pole axe he had stolen managed to find another and use it to nearly decapitate Ren, causing him to leave both his stolen weapon and his own lightsaber behind as he barely dodged the swing meant to kill him.

A quick stumble from the unarmed Jedi was all the elite trooper needed to gain the upper hand as he used his own momentum and Ren's iron grip on his axe to tie Ren up in a chokehold with the weapon's handle.

A few heartbeats later Ren's senses told him that Rey too was in a dire predicament - tied up with her weapon in a position that rendered it useless.

Adrenaline surging he fought against the man who was trying to maneuver the axe in such a way as to cause the tiny electro-plasma blade edge to come to bear against Ren's throat. It took all of his focus as he had only one hand available to fight with while his would-be killer had both of his hands and better leverage as well.

"BEN!" Rey bellowed, jerking his attention to her just in time for him to catch her extinguished blade as it slapped into his palm in the perfect position to simply flash the blade on and off in order to free himself from the mortal peril he was in.

The last Preatorian's grip relaxed the moment blue blade exploded through his helm and skull, killing him instantly.

Ren let out a huge breath of air and stood, dropping the dead man's weapon as he did.

She saved his life. She hadn't needed to… she could just as easily have thrown her blade so that it killed both he and the man who was choking him... but she had chosen to save him. His heart, ever the reactionary, screamed at him that she had chosen him, just as he had chosen her.

He had never felt so alive, never been so alive.

His adrenalin fueled bloodthirst, sated by the battle they'd just won, morphed into something else - a different type of thirst.

Their eyes collided from across the room and he felt her register the switch in his focus and the surge of panic that zinged through her.

Her eyes skittered away from his then snapped back as a sense of relief flooded through her.

"The fleet!" She blurted then rushed over to the oculus. "There's still time to save the fleet!"

He could tell she was hiding, running away from what he was feeling, from him.

Disappointment over took him and he turned away.

Dazedly, he walked over to stand before the throne where only some pieces of Snoke still sat while others littered the floor. He could hardly believe it. He was free. Free and in a position to actually make a difference. Free, in a position to make a difference, and standing only several feet away from the one person who made it all worthwhile.

As if on cue she called his name again, this time as a question.

"Ben?" Her voice sounded tight, as if she feared he might say or do something monstrous to her now that the danger from others had passed.

But he wasn't a monster... not anymore, not with her to remind him that he was just a man. A man capable of taking control of his own destiny.

His own destiny. Yes. His destiny. He could see it all now. He was meant to be here, to rule, to bring peace to a galaxy that had known nothing of it since the old days - his grandfather's days.

That's what he was meant for - It's what they were both meant for.

It didn't matter that they walked two different paths along the Force. Light side, dark side - it didn't matter. He'd been trained by both, they weren't as different from each other as either would ever care to admit.

He knew he cared about her and he was pretty sure she cared about him, too. Together, they could make this work. Together, they could accomplish anything.

The old ways would have them be enemies, but they weren't enemies. She had never been his enemy, it was only their insistence on sticking to the dogmatic ways of the Jedi and Sith that had ever made it seem as if they were. But that was the old way…

"It's time to let old things die." He said, still looking at the throne and Snoke's ruined corpse. "Snoke," he gestured toward the body with a slight tilt of his chin then turned to look at her. "Skywalker…" He began to walk toward her slowly, still speaking. "The Sith, the Jedi, the rebels - let it all die."

Coming to a halt just a few paces in front of her he gathered his courage to ask her the most important thing he had ever asked anyone. "Rey," he began formally then paused to take a deep, calming breath and reach his hand out to her. "I want you to join me. We can rule together and bring a new iorder/i to the galaxy."

Even as he spoke he could feel her turning away from him, closing him out, dismissing his offer as if he was asking her to join him on the dark side. But that's not what he intended for either of them. That was the old way of things and he was done with the old ways.

"Don't do this, Ben." She said, her voice dripping disappointment while her eyes spoke of pain. "Please, don't go this way."

He was right, of course he was right, she didn't understand what he was saying.

"No! No, you're still iholding on!/i Let go!" He could feel her slipping away from him and couldn't keep his frustration from making itself known in his voice and posture anymore than he could keep it from saturating the Force between them.

Thinking fast he grabbed onto the one topic he thought might help bring her back to his side. "Do you wanna know the truth about your parents?" He felt a spike of alarm and pain wash through her and somehow he knew that she already knew the truth - though possibly not all of it. "Or have you always known… and you've just hidden it away?"

Though she remained silent he felt the truth swirling through the Force maelstrom around her. He closed the distance between them until she was just outside of his reach. "You know the truth." He said gently. "Say it."

The way she was looking at him made him almost regret even bring up her parents, but she had to know, she had to admit it to herself. She couldn't possibly move on, make a new life for herself, heal from the pain they'd caused her if she couldn't even admit that they ihad/i caused her pain.

It was important that she be the one to say it - that she admitted it to herself. If he said it, she could tell herself that he lied - but if she said it - she'd have nowhere left to hide from the truth.

"Say it." He prompted again when she remained silent.

Tears streaming freely she glanced away for a moment then her eyes found his again before, in a tiny - tearful voice, she admitted what she had always known. "They were nobody."

He nodded then shared what he had seen, about her parents, when they'd touched hands - and what they had done to her. "They were filthy junk traders - who sold you off for drinking money."

As hard as he tried he couldn't fathom how anyone could do that to her. She was everything a person was supposed to be… brave, daring, honest, kind, caring, compassionate and as if all that wasn't enough - she was incredibly powerful and beautiful to boot! She was everything that most people - himself included - dreamed of, but never even came close to, being.

A sharp jolt of anger zinged through him as he saw and felt how devastated she was by what they had done to her.

He could feel how much she didn't want to think about her family any more, and he definitely emphasize with that, since he'd rather never have to think about his either… but at least now she knew the truth and could, in time, heal from it.

"They're dead - in a pauper's grave in the Jakku desert." He said, hoping that final snippet of information would help ease her pain and speed her healing.

Her family tree, full of nobodies, vagrants, and scavengers, wasn't nearly the handicap some might think it'd be. Not when she was a thousand times better than any of them - or even all of them combined. She didn't know how lucky she was to be a nobody from a long line of nobodies. She needed to know that - to know it didn't matter what or where she came from, that it only mattered where she was headed, who she was free to become.

She wasn't tied to a legacy she couldn't live up to. She didn't grow up with the expectations of a whole galaxy crushing down on her. She wasn't expected to be a hero or a savior - a blemishless saint for the masses to look up to. She was free. Free to make her own choices. Free to walk her own path. He only hoped he could convince her to chose the path he had no choice but to walk upon.

His destiny may have been sealed the day he'd been born, but hers - hers was open. He needed her to see that... that she wasn't tied to any cause, or any legacy, that she was free to choose to be more than what she'd been born as.

"You have no place in this story." He said, trying to let her know, by lightening his voice, that he considered that a good thing... but he could feel right away that she didn't catch his meaning. Flustered, he hurried on, trying to find the right words to convey his meaning. "Y-you come from nothing."

Not for the first time he he acknowledged to himself that words really weren't his forte as her emotional recoil practically slapped him in the face.

He tried again, getting upset at himself for not being able to make her understand what he was trying to say. "You're nothing -" her pain and embarrassment at hearing that zinged through him, causing him to pause and take a breath before he plunged on to the point he was trying to make. "But not to me."

iFinally!/i He thought as her eyes jerked to his and a questioning, hopeful feeling washed over him from her direction.

Seizing the chance he invited her again to take his hand, which he offered as he said, "Join me."

She stared at him and he could feel the questions in her mind, sense her hesitation, just as strongly as he could detect the longing in her heart. A longing to place her trust in him, to believe in him as she had when she'd fought by his side, a deep desire to take his hand and everything else he was offering with it.

Hoping to both reassure her and prompt her to action he inched forward a little, re-offering her his hand.

She stared at it, torn with indecision as the Force around them boiled with the intensity of both of their intertwined emotions - fear, hope, longing, doubt, desperation, pain, desire, despair - all jumbled together in an indistinguishable tumult.

Suddenly, he could feel her pulling back from him, tamping down her softer emotions as her fears intensified.

Losing her wasn't an option, at this point. He couldn't let her run away, not like this, not when all she had to do was reach out and take his hand to make both of their dreams all come true.

Her eyes flickered up to his, doubt written clearly in them.

Desperate, feeling her slipping away from him, he did the only thing he could in the situation. For the first time in his life, he tried begging.

"Please." His voice broke into a sob as tears clogged his throat.

He wanted to say more but he didn't trust himself to get the words right. How, when you've been a worthless failure your whole life, do you tell a girl you just met that you know everything about her and, because of that, you're desperately in love with her? How do you tell the woman of your dreams that you're willing to do anything to have a chance with her? That if she agrees to be yours you'll give her anything she wants, everything that you are and all that you have - including the entire galaxy? What words, besides 'join me' could he use to offer her everything?

Shock rippled out from her, she inhaled sharply. He could feel her searching his feelings, trying to understand him and what he wanted from her.

He wished he could help her, tell her everything she needed to know, but he hardly understood himself and all he wanted from her was iher/i… but again, how was he supposed to say that in a way that wouldn't come out all wrong?

After what seemed like an eternity her hand slowly began to rise toward his. Inch by inch she reached for him as his heartrate skyrocketed along with his hopefulness.

Her fingertips were barely an inch or two from his when a sudden shift in her aim and the Force around her dashed all his hopes as she jerked her lightsaber from his other hand.

Instinct alone brought his hand up as the silver cylinder froze in the air between them, inches from either set of fingers.

Her tears abated while his began to trickle slowly down his face as they each pulled at the sword that hung in the air between them.

A burst of power scooted them both several feet backwards and the lightsaber began to vibrate as they both poured all their strength into fighting for it.

He could feel that she meant to use it against him and for a moment he considered letting her have it - after all, what did he have if he didn't have her? But as quickly as that thought came to him it was shouted down by another, louder, more reasonable thought. She just didn't understand. He had failed to make her understand. He needed that lightsaber so he could have the chance to explain himself better… to beg harder if necessary - he couldn't do that if she got her hands on her weapon.

He had to win this contest. He had to. He redoubled his efforts and she did the same.

A bright light began to emanate from the saber hilt as it started to shudder.

His gaze shifted from it to her even as a maelstrom of Force induced wind blew the tears directly from his eyes into his hair.

A groan tore free from his throat and a growl from hers as they both gave everything they had to try to take possession of the glowing, shuddering silver cylinder that hung in the air between them.

Without warning he was blinded by a bright white flash of light and hurled backwards through the air before everything went black.


	4. Chapter 4

Being jolted awake was nothing new to Kylo Ren. The only new part about waking up that way this time, was that it wasn't a nightmare that forced him into conciousness. It was a tremor in the Force - warning him that he was in mortal danger - that had awakened him.

His eyes popped open and his body jerked upward, ready to leap to his feet if need be, but he stopped himself short when the alarming feeling disappeared.

Without needing to look he knew that the person standing nearby was not the same person he had seen disappearing into the bright white flash of light that had left him lying unconscious on the floor. Glancing around, his eyes landed on Armitage Hux - the General was standing only a few paces away, tamping down his disappointment.

Reaching out with the Force he could tell by how faint her shimmer was, that Rey wasn't aboard the ship. That could only mean one thing - she had recovered first but hadn't attempted to kill him before she left. He couldn't quite wrap his head around that. She had been plenty determined to kill him before the flash of light - so why hadn't she tried when she'd had the perfect opportunity? Had Hux arrived in the nick of time and frightened her away?

"What happened?" Hux said in a voice saturated with disdainful loathing.

Thinking quickly, Kylo lied through his teeth as he lurched to his feet, "The girl murdered Snoke."

The view that greeted his still dazzled eyes through the massive view panel in front of him was one of chaos and destruction.

Half the ship seemed to be floating slowly away while fires burned along it's tattered edge wherever air escaped from it's still mostly intact portions.

"What happened?" He asked, surveying the damage while his mind screamed that the ship's bisection had not been caused by his and Rey's struggle for possession of her lightsaber.

"She took Snoke's escape craft." Came the ginger General's haughty reply.

He considered that - she'd had the time and presence of mind to locate the hidden escape pod, but had obviously chosen to leave him lying there unmolested… maybe she did care a little bit about him. A little bit, maybe - but not enough. Not enough to want him. Not enough to trust him. Not enough to believe in him. Not enough to stay with him. Not enough to allow him to bother hoping she iwould/i ever care enough. iNo,/i he decided, iif she does care, she doesn't care enough to make a difference. /i

Like everyone else he'd ever cared about - she had betrayed him. Like everyone else who'd ever "cared" about him, she had promised to be there for him and then abandoned him at the first opportunity. Because, he reasoned, like them, she'd just been trying to use him to gain what she wanted - the survival of her rebel friends. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but swallow it he did... what other choice did he have when the evidence was so clearly written in her rejection and desertion?

"We know where she's going. Get all our forces down to that Resistance base. Let's finish this." He said, turning his back to the destruction outside as well as the haughty redheaded General only to be brought up short by Hux's outraged reply to his demands.

"Finish this?" Hux's incredulous voice sneered. "Who do you think you're talking to? You presume to command imy/i army? Our Supreme Leader is dead! We have no ruler!"

Hux's tirade came to an abrupt end as Kylo Ren reached out with the Force and grasped him tightly by the throat.

"The Supreme Leader is dead?!" Kylo said in a way that left zero doubt that he was staking a claim on the title.

Gasping for breath and struggling against the feel of a steel vice clamped around his windpipe General Hux quickly, though reluctantly, agreed that Kylo's claim was stronger than his own. "Long live the Supreme Leader." He choked out with the tiny amount of air still left in his lungs.

Releasing his prey Kylo stalked away tossing a rather menacing, "Don't make me regret letting you live." over his shoulder as he went.

As much as he wanted to hop in his Silencer and head out after Rey and her allies, Kylo knew it would be quite some time before his forces made planet fall, so he took the opportunity to inform the remainder of his fleet about his promotion and then wash away the filth, sweat and the strong odor of smoke that clung to him in the aftermath of the battle in the throne room.

Alone with his thoughts for the first time, perhaps ever, he stood barely inside the doorway of his quarters as the events of the past hour flooded through his mind, threatening to overwhelm him.

Noticing the trembling of his hands and the moisture on his cheeks he forced those thoughts away and turned his attention to the task at hand. First, he was going to clean himself up and then he was going to clean up the remnants of his mother's rebellion - and if Rey tried to stop him, he told himself, then she'd die with the rest of the traitors.

At the thought of her his resolve wavered just enough to really enrage him. She had betrayed and abandoned him and yet the mere thought of her was enough to make his lungs constrict and his guts twist up into knots. That would never do. He couldn't allow his foolish sentiments to interfere with his purpose - his destiny.

And if the thought of killing her hurt more than he cared to admit, well, that was ihis/i problem, but she and her rebel friends were a problem for the whole galaxy. The Resistance had to die and she had to die with it. That's just the way it was, the only way it could be.

When he was first told that the Supremacy was so badly damaged that it was, effectively, slowly working it's way toward being dead in space - and how it had gotten that way - he'd been furious, but now - staring out the view panel of his command shuttle at the massive doors of the mine that would soon be the tomb of the entire Resistance - he was actually pretty calm.

All of his enemies were gathered together in that mine - and he was approaching it with enough men and fire power at his back to completely destroy both the mine and his enemies.

"Thirteen incoming light craft, shall we hold until we clear them?" Hux asked in a tone that barely avoided being belligerently patronizing.

Ren could feel that Hux was quite irate about not being completely in charge of every aspect of this mission - as he would have been under Snoke's leadership. That fact annoyed Ren more than it should have - considering how calm he was feeling.

"No, the Resistance is in that mine," he said flatly - despite his annoyance with Hux, "push through."

Turning to the communications officer, Hux ordered, "Send two TIE squadrons." then turned back to Ren and sneeringly asked, "Or were iyou/i wanting to give ievery/i order?"

Making sure to put enough emphasis on his words to let them serve as a warning Ren replied, "It doesn't matter how you get rid of them, what matters, ifor your sake,/i is that you do, iGeneral./i"

Obviously biting back an acid retort Hux turned back to the communications officer and sneered, "Send them."

Ren watched intently as the assigned TIES raced ahead of the line of AT-M6 'Gorillas' his command shuttle was hovering over.

More exhausted than he'd ever been in his entire life, Ren went over to sit down, but before he could do more than barely start to bend toward his chair his senses suddenly came alive with the feeling of iher./i His eyes snapped back to the air above the battlefield as the Millennium Falcon swooped in from above the mine - blowing up TIEs as she came streaking toward him.

"Blow that ipiece of junk/i bOUT OF THE SKY!/b" he bellowed, crowding in close to the glass, pointing at the ship he had learned to hate long before he'd even learned to shave.

Hux turned to the communications officer and ordered, "All fighters!"

As he watched dozens more TIEs join the fray Ren told himself that the fact that ishe/i was in it had nothing to do with how furious the sight of his father's ship destroying his fighters made him feel. He told himself he would feel nothing when the Falcon was destroyed - whether she was on it or not. And if he felt a small amount of relief as he watched the agile old crate peel off from the battle and disappear over the cliff face - out of his sight -it wasn't because he knew it would be painful to iwatch/i bher/b die.

His personal feelings didn't matter, he reasoned, it was up to him, and him alone, to insure that the entire Resistance - including it's treacherous young Jedi - died today. If any of them lived, even if it was just her, there would be no end to the civil war that had already been raging for decades before he'd even been born.

The communications officer's voice brought Ren out of his musings, "Sir, the cannon has reached it's maximum effectiveness range."

Ren glanced at Hux, "Do it."

"Prepare to fire." Hux ordered crisply.

The remaining rebel craft made a B-line straight for the cannon as soon as it's charging sequence began to initiate.

Ren leaned in closer to the shielded glass window for a better view then very calmly ordered, "All fire power on those speeders."

Hux angrily repeated the order, cleary offended at having Ren issuing orders to his men again. It was also clear to Ren that Hux was scared witless by the prospect of having one of those clearly suicidal pilots succeed at destroying the cannon just as one suicidal pilot had successfully destroyed the Supremacy.

Ren bit back a quip about Hux letting his personal feelings get in the way of his job as he shot the half-panicked General a quick, sardonic glance.

As his forces began to pour heavy fire into the line of speeders they each scrambled off in different directions, all but one - that one kept coming straight for the cannon at maximum speed. When he reached out with his senses to confirm the man's intent, Ren wasn't even surprised to learn who was manning that craft. Of course it was his traitorous former stormtrooper, FN-2187. Of course it was - like a bad penny, that guy had a way of showing up everywhere.

"Cannon charged." The communications officer informed him and Ren gave the go ahead to fire just as a second speeder raced in and knocked the traitor's craft out of the cannon's firing line.

He watched silently as a giant ball of golden energy sliced across the plain and exploded against the massive, and heavily armored, door that stood between his forces and his enemies. When the explosion cleared he was satisfied to see that a large gaping hole had been opened in the base of the door.

"General Hux, Advance. No quarter. No prisoners." Ren ordered in a voice as flat as the ground below his ship.

Hux looked over at the communications officer and nodded sharply to the man.

The officer relayed the Supreme Leader's commands and the line of giant gorilla walkers began lumbering forward once more.

As his advancing forces began to near their target a lone figure materialized from the gloomy darkness of the mine's interior. Ren could hardly believe his eyes as he watched his mother's twin stride through the still flaming entrance his cannon had opened in the door.

"Stop!" He ordered sharply then stepped forward for a better view and said in a much calmer tone, "I want every gun we have to fire on that man."

Even from this distance Ren could feel Luke Skywalker's eyes boring into his as his uncle stood defiantly staring up at him from several paces in front of the mine.

"Do it." He prompted when Hux, apparently too shocked to do so, failed to officially issue the order.

A single shot sliced through the air, kicking up enough red dust, as it exploded against the ground directly beneath Skywalker's feet, to obscure the mine as well as the spot where his uncle had been standing.

In a blink all of the other gorillas opened fire and dozens of huge red bolts of pure destruction filled the space between his forces and their target.

He couldn't see Luke and when he reached out with the Force to confirm what his eyes and mind told him, that Luke was dead, the only Force presence he could feel was Rey's.

That fact, rather than bring him comfort, only served to spur him toward madness.

"More!" He urged as shots continued to pummel the spot where his uncle had been standing a moment ago.

Clenching his fists, against the onslaught of emotions - terror, anguish, fury, betrayal, even heartbreak and despair all swirled together - that easily overwhelmed his carefully cultivated facade of indifference.

"More!" He shouted.

Hux, never one to miss an opportunity to rub salt into a wound, stepped up to Ren and said in a lowered voice, "that's enough."

When Kylo didn't halt the attack Hux then turned to shout the same words at the shuttle's crew.

Emotionally spent and feeling curiously defeated, Ren dropped into his seat and took a shuddering breath, telling himself that he was fine, that Luke was gone, that he had nothing further to worry about.

In a tone saturated with sarcastic disdain Hux turned to him and asked, "Do you think you got him?"

Too overcome to respond, and still unable to feel any Force presence but Rey's, Ren took another shuddering breath and soothed his shattered nerves by telling himself again that Luke was gone, that he was going to be OK, that he never had to worry about seeing his uncle again.

"Now, if we're ready to get moving," Hux sneered, "we can finish this."

"Sir?" The shuttle's pilot said warily.

Ren jumped to his feet to see for himself what had the pilot's emotions suddenly boiling with fearful awe.

For a brief moment he saw nothing - but then he spotted the silhouette of his uncle stepping out of the cloud of crimson dust that his gunners had stirred up.

Ren's insides turned to ice as Luke glared up at him and flicked the backs of his fingers against his shoulder tauntingly.

i"Hello,"/i Ren whispered then said in an eerily calm, flat voice that matched the terrifying numbness permeating his overwhelmed senses, "bring me down to him. Keep the door covered and don't advance until I say."

Unwisely, but also unsurprisingly, Hux chose that moment to try to remind Ren of their mission - in the most annoying possible way - "Supreme Leader, don't get distracted - our goal…" his words ended in an alarmed cry as Ren Force shoved him against the steel bulkhead hard enough to render the General insensate.

"Right away, sir." The pilot said snappily as Hux's dazed form hit the floor.


	5. Chapter 5

A weak undercurrent of tranquility emanated from Luke Skywalker as Kylo Ren stepped purposefully toward the legendary Jedi before coming to a halt a mere five or so meters away.

Ren's eyes absorbed every detail, noting that the man hadn't changed at all in the years since he'd last seen him. As far as Ren could tell, the only difference between Luke then and Luke now was how weak the older man's Force presence was. Well, that and the fact that he had Rey's lightsaber clipped to his belt.

Blessed anger rose to drown out some of the nearly overwhelming fear and pain that he tried vainly to deny he was feeling. She'd obviously went to his uncle after she'd abandoned him - iNo,/i he corrected himself, ishe ran straight to Luke and gave him her weapon./i

Refusing to give in to the pain of this latest betrayal, he focused it until it fueled his fury before he mockingly asked his uncle, "Did you come back to say you forgive me? To save my soul?"

Luke's eyebrows shot up as he answered, shaking his head as he spoke to his nephew for the first time since he'd tried to murder Ren in his sleep, "No."

Ren shrugged off his cape then took a few steps forward and drew his weapon. Igniting it he settled into his fighting stance - firmly planting his feet against the thin layer of shifting salt that had already begun to cover the red dirt his walkers had left bare only minutes ago.

Luke slowly raised then ignited the smooth, blue-white blade of Rey's weapon, slipped easily into an upright defensive stance and waited. He raised his own lightsaber to glare down the length of it's unstable crimson blade at his uncle as he gathered the strength and courage to attack the Jedi Master. The same man who's betrayal had ultimately lead to Young Ben Solo's being beaten, tortured and manipulated - by Snoke - until nothing was left behind but Kylo Ren.

Power zinged through him, spurring him into action and he dashed toward Luke, switching to a reverse grip at the last moment as he felt his uncle's intent to dodge. Though he let the momentum of his initial attack carry through into a backhanded swing as he passed by, Luke managed to dodge that attack as well.

Spinning quickly to face the Jedi again Kylo forced his frustration down as best he could and reset his grip as he brought the weapon around in preparation for another attempt at Luke.

This time he eschewed any fancy grip work and went straight for a power slice aimed at Skywalker's middle. With surprising speed and agility, for a man his age, Luke bent backward so that Ren's blade passed harmlessly over him.

Again using the momentum of his first swing, Kylo followed through with an immediate downward chop aimed at Luke's head. The Jedi spun and skittered away from his nephew's deadly blade in a fashion that not even the most nimble of normal people could have accomplished.

Biting back a growl of frustration Kylo spun to face his opponent - too enraged to form a coherent thought, he glared at his uncle.

"I failed you, Ben." Luke said in a voice made rough with emotion. "I'm sorry."

Kylo found his tongue at last as, barely managing to not fly completely apart, he spat out, "I'm isure/i are!" Before listing only a few of the things, as he saw it, that Luke had reason to be sorry about. "The Resistance is dead! The war is over! And when I kill you, I will have killed the last Jedi!"

The moment of triumph caused by that thought was cut short when Luke said, in an almost passé manner, "Amazing. Every word of what you just said was wrong." Kylo felt a spike of fear shoot through him and shoved it away forcefully as Luke continued, "The rebellion is reborn today. The war is just beginning. And I will not be the last Jedi."

His insides twisted and his traitorous heart skipped a beat at Luke's almost reverential mention of Rey. "I'll destroy her," he promised, more to himself than to Luke. "And you, and all of it!"

Surprising his nephew, Luke extinguished the blue blade and straightened from of his defensive posture. "No." Luke said confidently. "Strike me down in anger and I'll always be with you. Just like your father."

At the mention of Han, Ren's heart twinged painfully. How could Luke know that he was haunted by his father's murder? How could he know that the deed plagued Ren night and day? How… unless ishe/i had told him.

Fury overwhelmed the younger man, robbing him of all other thoughts and feelings. Gripping his lightsaber so hard the leather of his glove protested, Ren burst forward, running at his uncle as fast as his legs could carry him. Wild and more than half crazed in his rage, Kylo swung his weapon in a wide arc that sliced cleanly through Luke at chest level.

He skidded to a stop a full three meters past the spot where his blade had passed through Luke - with surprising little resistance. Kylo took a few shuddering breaths as he waited for his uncle's weak Force presence to wink out of existence.

Seconds, like eons, ticked by slowly and Luke's presence didn't disappear. Nor did he experience the instantaneous spiritual unburdening that had come with Snoke's bisection.

Almost too afraid to look, Ren hesitantly turned his head. Seeing Luke still in one piece, turning toward him, sent shockwaves of terror skittering throughout his entire body. Slowly, unsure of how to proceed, he turned around to face his uncle who gazed placidly at him as if he hadn't a care in the world.

A sneaking suspicion threaded through Kylo's mind and, raising his weapon, he took a few long strides forward until the hissing red blade penetrated Luke's chest as Skywalker gazed at him with an expression that was clearly disappointed.

His disbelieving eyes flicked from the spot where his blade impaled Luke to his uncle's eyes. "No." He gasped as the truth of the situation slammed into his brain - Luke was not, nor had he ever been, here. He was projecting himself as Kylo had once, fleetingly, thought Rey might have been doing during that first Force-enabled visit between them.

"See you around, kid." Luke promised - then, lowering his head, slowly vanished into thin air.

Kylo knew enough about Force projection to know that the amount of power it took to project one's self such a distance, with such palpability - for any length of time - could prove fatal to even the strongest Force user. Surely, Luke knew that, too. So, why would he sacrifice his life to put on this little charade?

His eyes nearly bulged out of his head as one final truth slapped him across the face. Reaching into the mine with the Force his senses told him what his mind already knew. The mine was empty - the rebels had used the distraction that Luke provided in order to escape.

Whipping around to look at the empty mine he screamed his frustration into the uncaring wind. "bNO!/b" he shouted over and over until finally, a tremor in the Force washed over him, alerting him to his uncle's actual, physical death.

Relief surged through him and with it an eerie calmness settled into his mind. iLuke is dead,/i he thought. iHe's gone - he'll never stand in my way again./i

Straightening up, Kylo calmly returned his sword to his belt and turned to glare at Hux through the tinted front window of the command shuttle where the General stared at him with unconcealed disgust. With a stiff nod of his head, Kylo signaled Hux to send in his ground forces.

He knew it was too late to catch any rebels, but that didn't mean they hadn't left anything behind that might prove useful - for finding them - to the First Order's intel division.

It took only minutes for Hux and about half a battalion of Stormtroopers to reach Kylo Ren, but the sun was already setting by the time the Supreme Leader strode through the entrance to the mine with a dozen or so troops, and Hux at his back.

Gesturing with one hand for his men stay out, he entered the rebel's command center alone. As soon as he walked through the door his eyes were immediately drawn to a golden sparkle in the middle of dusty floor. Almost reluctantly he stepped over and squatted down to retrieve the golden chance cubes that had been his favorite childhood toy.

The dice, at one time large enough to fill his palm, felt tiny, almost fragile in his hand as memories from many years ago washed through his mind. He remembered the story his mother had often told about the first time he'd ever touched them.

Ben Solo been barely more than a baby while Han - who was holding Ben, in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon - began arguing with Leia over who knows what. Taking advantage of his parents distraction Ben had snagged one of the dice from where they hung on a hook above the ship's control panel. The thin chain that connected the two die had proven stronger than he'd expected. He'd pulled with all his might and the other die had suddenly popped loose from the hook it was snagged on. The trinket had then slammed into Han's mouth, nearly sliding down his throat. Leia had then begun to laugh as Han had choked on his words and spat the dice out to look at his son who was grinning happily at having won the tug of war with the hook. Taking her son into her arms Leia also took the dice from Han and gave them to Ben, telling him to be sure to stuff them in Han's mouth anytime he caught his dad being such a dimwitted stick-brain.

He'd carried those dice around with him every day, for years, after that. Though he hadn't ever understood or even remembered the incident that had gained him the toy, he had treasured it because it belonged to his father.

As a small child he had, like most little boys with charismatic dads, loved - indeed even hero-worshipped - his father above all things.

The dice in his hand wavered as tears gathered in his eyes. Though his father had disappointed him a countless number of times, he never stopped loving him or thinking of him as a hero - he'd just convinced himself that love was worthless and heroes were useless.

He remembered the day he'd thrown those dice at his father in disgust. It was the day he'd left to go to Luke. He'd begged his father to make Leia let him stay. He'd insisted that he didn't want to be a Jedi, that he wanted to be a pilot - like him. But Han had just given him a defeated sigh and said that there was nothing he could do. That he didn't understand Jedi, or kids, or women and that he thought Leia knew a lot more about what Ben needed than he ever could. Han had then tried to hug him but Ben had shrugged him off then pulled the dice from his pocket and thrown them in Han's face, shouting that he hated him, before storming off to board the ship that would take him away from his parents and set him on the path that would lead him here - to this dusty old mine.

Swallowing hard he stared at those dice while his mind switched gears to the last time he had seen his father.

He'd been so close to just giving in. So close. But then he'd remembered - remembered all the hell he had been through since he had last seen Han - the day he'd thrown those dice in his father's face. Years of anger, resentment and abuse had passed between those two days. Years that had destroyed Ben Solo and given rise to Kylo Ren - years that could have been so different if only Han had spoken up for his son. If only Han had stood by his son like a father should.

Thinking back to the moment he had killed Han Solo, he could almost feel his father's callused hand against his face, almost hear Chewie's tormented bellow, almost hear Rey's scream.

As if the very thought of her had conjured her to his side, Rey's presence filled the space around him.

His eyes jerked away from the dice in his hand and landed on hers. Shock exploded through his system. He never thought he'd see her like this again... not with Snoke dead… unless - had Snoke lied about being responsible for their connection? Kylo wouldn't put it past Snoke - the former Supreme Leader lied about pretty much everything, as far as Kylo could tell.

Too overcome to do more than stare at her in utter shock, Kylo felt her crushing disappointment in him slowly turning toward something akin to resolve. He could literally feel her heart hardening against him. She was angry, but not unreasonably so under the circumstances, and he could feel that she bore him no hatred at all - but he could also tell that, in that moment, she held no compassion for him, either.

A tiny flicker of hope ignited deep in his soul and he moved to call to her but stopped when he felt a fresh wave of anger course through her. With a quick movement of her hand she quickly disappeared from her toes up. A loud, familiar clang reverberated through the room and he realized she had shut the Millennium Falcon's loading ramp in his face.

In the back of his mind he recognized that the Falcon was still somewhere nearby and on the ground. He knew it, but suddenly he didn't care about destroying the decrepit old hunk of junk.

A part of him even hoped it would make it past his fleet.

His eyes and mind turned back to the dice in his hand. He flicked the chain and watched it swing freely as the trinket faded into nothingness, leaving him staring at his own empty hand.

He knotted his fist against the anguish that tore through his heart as the reality of his own emptiness crushed down upon him.

iEmpty,/i he thought, iwhat a perfectly apt description./i

Hot tears poured silently down his face as he let his head droop until his chin rested upon his chest.

With no family, no friends, no Rey - that's exactly what his life was - empty.

And so was he.

THE END. 


End file.
